Spread My Wings and Fly
by Aneko.Inoue
Summary: Chouko lost everything back in America, her parents, her older brother, and now she has to live with her uncle in Japan. All she wants to do is be alone, but what she doesn't know is that she's going to find out exactly what happened to her family. R
1. The Mysterious Niece

**Name:** Chouko

**Age: **14

**Hair: **purple

**Eyes: **purple

I walked out of the airport and looked around for my uncle, who was supposed to be picking me up, but he wasn't there.

I sat down on my suitcase and waited for him to show up. It wasn't long before I saw a girl with red hair tied up in red ribbons looking around the outside of the airport.

Then she noticed me and rushed over.

"Are you Chouko?" she asked.

"Yes, who are you?" I asked.

"My name's Ichigo Momomiya." She replied. "Keiichiro couldn't make it, so he sent me instead."

"Whatever." I said getting up. "So, how do you know my uncle?"

"Oh, I work at the café that he owns." Ichigo said.

"That's cool, I guess." ­I said as she led me away from the airport. "Whatever works for you."

Together we headed toward the café, not noticing that someone was following us.

"Hm, I wonder who that is with Kitty-Cat." A boy said as he followed me and Ichigo. "Maybe I should introduce myself…"

"This is Keiichiro's café?" I asked as we stood in front of the pink café.

"Yep, isn't it cute?" Ichigo said.

"If you mean cute as in revolting, then yeah." I said, but Ichigo didn't hear me.

"I hope Shirogane-san isn't back yet." Ichigo mumbled. "He'd ruin everything."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, in short, Shirogane-san is a heartless jerk who doesn't care about anyone except himself." Ichigo explained bitterly. "If I were you, I'd stay away from him."

"What were you saying about me?" came a voice behind me.

I turned around to see the hottest guy I've ever seen. He had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Yo, name's Ryou Shirogane." He said to me. "Ichigo, aren't you supposed to be working?"

Ichigo grumbled and stalked off into the café, leaving me and Ryou alone.

"So, you must be Keiichiro's niece, right? What's your name?" Ryou asked.

"Oh, um, Chouko Akasaka." I said blushing.

"Are you okay, your face is red." Ryou asked.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I'm still a little shaky from the plane ride." I said nervously.

"Why don't you come inside." He said, walking toward the café.

"Okay…" I said as he took my hand and lead me inside.

Inside I could see that the café looked just as bad as it did on the outside. Ryou stopped in front of the kitchen and told me to wait for a second.

"Yo, Keiichiro." Ryou said from the kitchen.

"Ryou? I thought you weren't going to be back until later." my uncle said.

"Well, I finished early and found something outside." Ryou said, reaching out his hand and pulling me into the kitchen.

"Chouko-san, when'd you get here?" Keiichiro asked, walking over to me.

"Just a little while ago." I said. "Um, would it be okay if I took a look around town for a while?"

"Sure and why don't you take Ichigo with you? I'm sure she'd like a break." Keiichiro said as the sound of Ichigo and another girl yelling at each other drifted into the kitchen.

"Okay." I said walking out of the kitchen. "Hey Ichigo, mind tagging along with me for a few hours?"

"Love to." Ichigo said, following me out of the café.

"This is one big city." I said as me and Ichigo were walking through the crowded shopping center. "So, is it always this crowded around here?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Ichigo said. "But there's a lot of fun stuff to do around here."

Ichigo and I turned the corner into a deserted alleyway.

"Oops, must've taken a wrong turn." Ichigo said. "Come on; let's go back… um, Chouko, what's wrong?"

I didn't move. I had gotten a strange feeling that we were not alone.

"Something's here." I said softly.

The ground shook and something exploded at the end of the alleyway.

"Chouko, you have to get out of here!" Ichigo said, tugging on my arm.

"Why? What's wrong? It was just an earthquake, it's not like there's some maniac who's gonna try to do something perverted to us." I said.

"Just trust me, it's not safe here." Ichigo pleaded, trying to lead me out of the alleyway.

"Aw, looks like Kitty-Cat doesn't want to introduce me to her new friend." Came a voice behind me. "Guess I'll have to introduce myself."

"Crap!" Ichigo said angrily, looking around the alleyway. "Show yourself Kishu!"

A small ball rolled forward and stopped in front of me and Ichigo.

"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

But then the small ball exploded and filled the alleyway with smoke. I shielded my eyes and covered my mouth so that I wouldn't breathe in the smoke. I heard Ichigo scream and felt a hand wrap around my waist.

Without looking to see what was going on, I spun around and kicked whoever had grabbed me in the stomach. When the smoke cleared, I saw that some kind of giant mutant snake was holding Ichigo, who was struggling to get free, and a boy with ivy-green hair and large pointed ears kneeling on the ground holding his stomach.

"What's going on here?" I asked, taking a step back.

"Damn, that hurt." The boy said, staggering to his feet. He looked up at me and I saw he had golden cat-like eyes. "But I guess I can forgive you this once."

"Chouko, run! Don't worry about me, just get out of here!" Ichigo yelled, but then the mutant snake tightened its grip on her and she screamed out in pain.

"You should behave yourself Kitty-Cat, I just want to introduce myself to your new friend." The boy said.

"Wh-Who are you?" I asked backing away from the boy as he walked toward me.

"My name's Kishu. Your name is Chouko, isn't it?" he asked. "I guess you're the new Mew."

"New what?!"

"Kishu, leave her alone!" Ichigo yelled.

"You're in no condition to make a threat Kitty-Cat." Kishu said.

"Oh yeah, look behind you." Ichigo said.

Me and Kishu turned to see that Ichigo had somehow gotten free. She pulled out a golden pendant and kissed it.

"Mew Mew Strawberry, METAMORPHISIS!"

She was surrounded by a bright light, and when it died down, there was a girl with pink hair wearing a frilly pink dress and had cat ears and a tail, standing where Ichigo was.

"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" I cried.

Then I felt something hit the back of my neck. I bent down and picked up a silver pendant.

"So I was right, you are the new Mew." Kishu said.

"What are you talking about Kishu? Chouko is Akasaka-san's niece, not a Mew Mew." Ichigo said, walking over to me. She noticed the pendant then said, "Or maybe she is…"

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked her.

"Just say the first words that come to mind." She said.

I waited for someone to say that it was all a joke, but no one did. Suddenly, words came up to my lips. I kissed my pendant and yelled,

"Mew Mew Chouko, METAMORPHISIS!


	2. The Sixth Mew Mew and an Old Friend

Chouko was surrounded by a bright light and when it died down, she was wearing a different outfit, but it didn't look as though she had any animal DNA in her.

_That's strange… I wonder what animal she has._ I thought.

After she had transformed, a little blue butterfly landed in Chouko's hand. She smiled and it flew away.

Kishu disappeared and reappeared in front of Chouko. He kissed her and then left. I transformed back to normal and walked over to Chouko.

"Come on Chouko, we've got to get you back to the others." I said. "Oh, but you'd better transform back first."

"Okay." She said, transforming back to normal.

"Let's go." I said, dragging her all the way back to the café.

**Chouko POV**

"What the hell are you talking about Ichigo?!" Ryou yelled furiously. "There isn't another Mew Mew, I should know!"

"But Shirogane-san, how else would Kishu have been able to know about her?" Ichigo yelled back.

"Maybe he saw you two together and automatically assumed she was a new member!" Ryou yelled. "You know how stupid he is; I mean… he is your _lover_ after all, isn't he?"

"Shut up!" Ichigo screamed. "Chouko, tell Ryou what happened."

"Um, well, all I remember is walking into that alleyway, the earthquake, some mutant snake, a weird guy named Kishu, a silver pendant… but then my mind goes blank. The next thing I remember was Ichigo dragging me back here." I said sweat dropping.

"Wait; hold up… did you say a pendant?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"May I see it?" he asked.

"Sure." I said, handing him the small silver pendant.

"That's strange… this isn't like the other ones." Ryou said. "Ichigo let me see yours."

Ichigo handed him her gold pendant.

"How can this be?" Ryou thought aloud.

"What's wrong with mine?" I asked, looking over his shoulder. "The only thing different is that mine is silver and doesn't have anything on it."

"That's the problem." Ryou said, handing me and Ichigo back our pendants.

"Whatever Ryou-chan, I'm going to bed." I said walking out of the room.

I walked up to my room, which was across the hall from Ryou's, and kept thinking about Kishu. For some reason, I just couldn't get him out of my mind.

"I guess I should just wake up and face reality… it'd just be the same as last time." I told myself.

I opened my door and froze. I quickly closed the door and let out an earsplitting scream.

"What is it Chouko?" Ichigo asked, as she and Ryou ran up the stairs to me.

"Oh, um, well… uh, spider. Huge ass spider." I lied quickly. "Scared me half to death."

"Where is it?" Ryou asked suspiciously. "I don't see any big ass spiders anywhere."

"That's because I, uh, I scared it with my screaming." I thought quickly.

"With a scream like that, you could've scared all of Tokyo." He said as he and Ichigo walked back down stairs.

I sighed and slowly opened my door. Nothing was there. I walked inside and told myself that it was just my imagination. I sat down on the bed and pulled out my pendant.

"I wonder what I'm supposed to do with this… oh well, it's not like I'm ever going to see Kishu ever again." I said, placing the pendant on my nightstand.

I closed my eyes and laid back on the bed.

"If only I could see Kishu one more time…" I sighed.

"I'm right here." A voice whispered in my ear.

A hand covered my mouth before I could scream again and another wrapped around my body, pinning my arms to my side.

"Why are you struggling? I thought you wanted to see me again." Kishu said. "Now, will you be a good girl and not scream?"

I nodded my head and Kishu removed his hand from my mouth.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"To see you of course." He answered, slowly rubbing my arm, causing me to shiver.

"No seriously, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to resist the urge to stomp on his foot.

"Okay, you caught me… I came here to take you with me." He said. "But only if you want to."

"And this is how you persuade a girl?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Well, it ain't working on me." I said. "So could you please let go of me and leave?"

"Aw, how come?"

"Because, idiot, I'm tired and need some sleep. I don't know if aliens need sleep or not, nor do I care, but whatever it is, you got to go."

"Fine, but I'll—"

"I'll be back, right?" I finished for him.

"How'd you…"

"Call it, a girl's intuition."

"What's an intuition?"

"Just go!" I said, managing to free myself. I spun around and saw Kishu teleporting away.

"Chouko, you okay in there?" Keiichiro asked on the other side of the door. "Who's in there with you?"

"Nobody!" I lied. "Nobody but me."

He walked inside and looked around. "I thought I heard voices." He said.

"Uncle Keiichiro, you're hearing things again. I'm all alone in here." I said, gently patting his shoulder. "Now can I go to sleep?"

"Oh, sure. Night." He said closing the door.

I turned off my light and quickly fell asleep.

"Morning!" I said as you came down the stairs.

"Morning." Ryou replied.

"Where's Keiichiro?" I asked.

"He had to go to the store, but he should be back later." Ryou said.

"Oh, ok. Well then, you want to do anything?"

"Actually, could you do me a favor? Go into the back room and take a look at what's in there?"

"Sure." I said walking into the back room.

I saw a waitress uniform like the one Ichigo wore, except it was purple and white.

"Oh God, please tell me this isn't for me…" I said, examining the uniform. I saw your name on the inside of the collar. "Man, it is! Well, at least nobody I know is going to see me like this."

I slipped into the uniform and saw that it fit you perfectly, which scared me a little. I walked back out and decided to piss Ryou off a little bit.

"Thank you SO much Ryou-chan!" I said, flinging my arms around his neck. I ran into him so hard that I had knocked him to the ground. "Oops, sorry. My bad."

"What is wrong with you?!" Ryou yelled, sounding pissed.

"Um… are we interrupting something?" came Ichigo's voice behind me.

I looked up to see Ichigo and the others walking into the café. My face turned scarlet and I got off of Ryou.

"Hell no!" I said. "I just accidentally fell on top of Ryou."

"Okay… well, we're just gonna go change now." Ichigo said as they walked into the changing room.

"I think I'm gonna go outside for a bit. You don't mind, do you Ryou-chan?" I asked.

"I don't care what the hell you do, just change out of your uniform before you do it."

I walked around in the park just to pass the time away.

"At least I don't need to spend my day in that pink hell." I said.

I saw a little girl run in front of me, and then she fell to the ground and started crying.

"Oh honey, its okay, Mommy and Daddy are here." A woman said, kneeling down beside the girl and helping her up.

Painful memories flooded back into my mind.

_Flashback_

_I'm running through the park with my parents. It was raining lightly, and I was carrying a little umbrella. I slipped and fell to the ground and began to cry…_

… _but nobody offered to help me up._

"_Mommy… Daddy…" ­I cried looking around. But my parents were no where to be seen._

_End Flashback_

"Nobody was there to help me up." I whispered to myself.

I blindly walked into the forest part of the park. I didn't really know where I was going, but I didn't care.

"Yo, what's up Chouko?" Kishu asked teleporting in front of you.

"Nothing…" you replied, walking past him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you here!" Kishu said angrily, walking in front of me and grabbing my shoulders.

I stared at Kishu, frightened. For a second he looked exactly like my older brother.

"No! Stop it!" I screamed, pushing him away.

"What's wrong Chouko?" Kishu asked worried.

"Nothing! Just… just leave me alone." I said, turning away from him.

Without another word I walked away and left Kishu standing there confused.

"Chouko, you okay?" Ryou asked from the other side of the door. "You've been in your room all afternoon. What happened?"

I didn't answer him. I was wondering why those memories had upset me so much. I decided that it was best to avoid Kishu at all cost, in case those memories surfaced again… but I didn't know how I was going to do that.

"I wish Jake was here… he'd know what to do." I said sadly, laying down and falling asleep.

**Kishu POV**

I silently floated into Chouko's room. I saw that she was already asleep. ­I kissed her forehead gently.

"Sweet dreams… my little butterfly." I whispered softly.

**Chouko POV**

It's been a week since I last saw Kishu, and my memories stayed in the back part of my mind. I was sweeping up outside and kept having the feeling that someone was watching me, but you ignored it.

"Man, how'd I get dragged into working at this stupid café? I didn't come to Japan to work, I came here to be free, or something like that." I said. "Nothing interesting ever happens here anyway."

I felt an arm grab me by my waist and I was slung over someone's shoulder.

"Put me down Kishu, I'm not in the mood." I protested angrily, struggling to get down.

"Calm down Chou." A familiar voice said.

"Jake!? What are you doing here?" I asked, stopping my attempt to get free.

[A/N: Jake has ivy-green hair and gold eyes

"I came here to see you." He said, walking towards the café. "I was worried about you and wanted to see how you were doing."

He walked into the café, with me still over his shoulder, and everyone turned to look at us.

"Chouko?!" everyone exclaimed.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked, smiling innocently as my face turned red.

"Chouko… who's this?" Ichigo asked.

"An old friend." I answered. "Um, Jake, could you put me down now?"

"No, I'm not finished with you yet." He replied.

"Finished?" everyone asked sweat dropping.

"Uh, oh." I said, your face turning scarlet. "Jake, maybe that's not such a good id—"

"What's going on in here?" Ryou asked, walking out of the kitchen.

_Thank God! Saved by Ryou._

He noticed Jake and stopped. "Who's this?"

"Name's Jake, who are you." Jake said.

"I'm Ryou Shirogane." Ryou replied. "What are you doing with Chouko?"

"Don't worry about me Ryou. Jake's an old friend and I'm kinda used to him doing this to me anyway. It's like his way of saying hello, or something. Right, Jake?" I said.

"Right. This is how I always greet Chou whenever I want to make her happy." Jake said.

"Well it looks as if you've only succeeded in embarrassing her, not making her happy." Mint said.

"No, its okay, really Mint, I'm not embarrassed." I lied. "Hey Jake, could you set me down now?"

"Only if you do it the way you always do." Jake said.

"Fine." I said. "Everybody, you might want to step back."

Everyone stepped back out of the way. I took a deep breath and did a forward flip, gracefully landing on my feet facing Jake.

"Perfect, as always." Jake said.

"So Jake, why did you _really_ come here?" I asked, sitting down at a table. "Let me guess, the magazine isn't doing good, is it?"

"What magazine?" Lettuce asked.

"Back in America, Jake and his sister started a local magazine." I explained. "It was for stuff like what was going on in town and stuff. But nobody was buying their magazine, so they decided to try having a model on the cover. They couldn't afford one so they asked me if I would do it."

"You were a model?" Pudding asked.

"I think I remember seeing something like that when I was over there." Zakuro said. "They said that your magazine was really popular."

"It was." Jake said, sitting down across from me. "That's why I came, well, partly of why I came. Ever since you left, we can't find anyone else who'll be our cover girl. I was hoping you'd let me take some more pictures of you for the magazine."

"It's fine with me." I said. "Want to take some now?"

"Sure, but I don't think you'd like everyone at home to see you wearing your uniform." Jake said.

"I'll be right back." I said rushing off to change.

When I came back downstairs, all the girls were standing around something. I walked over and saw that it was Jake's binder that had all the pictures he had taken of me in it.

"Okay, you ready Chou?" Jake asked when I walked outside.

"Yep, all ready." I said. "Picture away."

**Kishu POV**

_Who does that guy think he is?_ I thought angrily as I saw some boy with Chouko. _He better not be trying to steal my butterfly away from me. Whoever he is…I'm not going to let him take my butterfly away from me. Not this time._


	3. The Truth

"How's Jessica? Is she doing alright?" I asked as Jake and I sat underneath a cherry blossom tree.

"Yeah, she's doing fine. She misses you though, everyone does." Jake said.

He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I blushed a little and thanked God that it was night already so that Jake couldn't see my face.

"How long are you staying?" I asked.

"About a week." He replied.

There was an awkward silence for a minute before I began to sense a familiar presence.

"C-Come on, we'd better get back." I said, getting up.

Jake and I were walking back to the café when I felt a hand grab me around the waist and another one covered my mouth. Then I was teleported to a dark room. I struggled to get free, but failed.

"Tsk, tsk, naughty girl Chouko. Going on a date with another guy… what a bad girl you're being." Kishu said. "Guess I'll have to punish you."

Kishu forced me down onto the bed, still holding me to where I couldn't do anything, and smirked.

"This is going to be easier than I thought." He said. He removed his hand from my mouth, and before I could scream, he placed his lips against mine.

I tried to push him away, put that only made him deepen the kiss. I felt his hand snaking its way up my shirt and I was finally able to push him off of me.

"What the BLODDY HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" I screamed at him, wiping my mouth.

"Punishment." He replied.

--? "Punishment? How was that punishment?" I asked.

"Are you saying you _liked_ it?" he asked smiling evilly.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE NO!!" I yelled.

"You know, you're pretty when you're angry." Kishu said playfully.

"Well then I'm about to get gorgeous in a sec! YOU'RE DEAD KISHU!!!!!!!" I screamed, launching on top of him.

I pinned him to the ground and started beating the crap out of him. After a minute I felt someone pull my arms back and lift me off of Kishu.

"LET ME GO!" I yelled.

"Calm down, or else we'll have to kill you." a voice said.

An alien with brown hair walked around to where Kishu was laying on the ground, unconscious.

"Whoa, you kick ass." The boy said, impressed. "But why were you beating up Kishu?"

"Because he's a perverted jackass, that's why." I answered. "Who are you two?"

"My name's Taruto, and the one holding you is Pai." The boy replied. "Well, looks like he'll be alright if you don't beat him up anymore."

"What were you doing in here anyway, human." Pai asked.

"Excuse me, but I do have a name you know, Chouko." I said irritated. "And FYI, Kishu kidnapped me and brought me here."

"Same old Kishu, just as perverted as ever." Pai said.

"Can you put me down now? I promise I won't beat Kishu up anymore."

"Fine." Pai said.

Pai released me and I walked over to the bed. I waited for Taruto and Pai to leave the room before walking back over to Kishu, who was now sitting up.

"If you don't take me home right now, there's more where that came from." I whispered angrily. "Now get off your sorry ass and take me home!"

Kishu took my hand and teleported me back to the park. Before he left he gave me another kiss on the lips.

"I'll be back for you… my little butterfly." He said softly before he evaporated.

My heart was beating fast and my face had turned red. I shook my head and ran toward the café.

"Chouko, where were you?" Keiichiro asked when I entered the café.

I blushed again. "I, uh, had forgotten something, and uh, went back to get it."

"Why's your face all red?" Ryou asked suspiciously.

"T-That's none of your business!" I said running up to my room and slamming the door.

**Ryou POV**

Chouko ran up the stairs and slammed her door.

"Man, what's that girl's problem?" I asked myself.

"Ryou, try not to tease Chouko as much as you do with Ichigo." Keiichiro said. "She's been through a lot lately."

"Fine, I'll cut her some slack." I sighed.

**Chouko POV**

"Man, making me sweep up outside… Ryou can be so cruel!" I sighed. "Ichigo's so lucky, she gets the day off. It's not fair! What dragged me into working here again? Oh yeah, the ten bucks an hour and the fact that I get to test uncle Keiichiro's deserts!" (Aneko: doesn't she remind you of Ichigo?)

"But this is so unfair!" I wailed. "It's a beautiful day today, and I'm stuck sweeping outside this stupid café."

I rested my chin on the handle of my broom and sighed. Then I felt myself being flung over someone's shoulder.

"Put me down Kishu! There's absolutely no way that I'll—"

"Be quiet!" Jake said. "If you make too much noise, my plan won't work."

"Jake?!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Jake asked. "I'm rescuing you."

"Are you sure? It kinda looks like you're kidnapping me." I said. "Come on, put me down."

"Why? I thought you just said that you were bored and wanted to have the day off."

"I did—I mean I do! But, well… I'm kinda grounded." I admitted.

"So, that's never stopped you before." Jake pointed out. "Come on, let's go have some fun."

"I can't! Ryou specifically told me not to leave the café today!" I yelled.

"Forget about that jack ass and have some fun." Jake said.

I stopped arguing and Jake carried me over his shoulder all the way to the amusement park.

**Ryou POV**

"I wonder what's taking Chouko so long." Pudding said.

"Yeah, she's been out there for a long time." Lettuce said.

"How long does it take one person to sweep up outside?" Mint asked.

"Maybe I was a little harsh on her last night." I wondered out loud.

"What do you mean Shirogane?" Lettuce asked.

"Oh, nothing." I said. "Why don't you go see what's taking her so long Lettuce."

"Okay." Lettuce said walking outside. She burst back through the doors a moment later. "Chouko's gone!"

**Chouko POV**

"Having fun?" Jake asked after I had just eaten your lunch.

"Yeah, this was a great idea Jake. Thanks for kidnapping me." I said laughing.

"No problem. But I do have one question… why were you grounded?"

"Because last night I got home really late, so Ryou said that he wanted to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't go anywhere." I explained. "At first I thought I'd feel bad about leaving so suddenly… but I don't feel guilty at all!"

Just then I felt like someone was watching me. I looked around, but nobody was there.

'_I've got a bad feeling about this...'_ I thought.

"What's wrong Chou?" Jake asked.

"Oh, nothing." I lied. _'Just the fact that some psycho maniac might have been following me.'_

Just then, the ground shook and a giant mutant lion appeared where the petting zoo was. Everyone started screaming and running away from the lion thing toward the exit. I stood up and I saw Ichigo and another boy running toward the mutant lion.

'_What's Ichigo doing?! Why's she running toward that mutant thing?'_

Ichigo turned and noticed me and Jake. She stopped and said something to the boy she was with and he ran toward me and Jake.

"What are you guys doing?! You've got to get out of here!" he said.

"What about you and Ichigo?" I asked him. "Shouldn't you be getting out of here too?"

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine!" the boy said. "Just get out of here!"

"Come on Chou, let's go!" Jake said, grabbing my hand and running toward the exit.

I got mixed in with the crowd as everyone hurried to escape from the amusement park, but then my foot slipped and my hand slid out of Jake's. I fell to the ground and everyone ran past me. I suddenly began to feel something telling me to go and help Ichigo.

Not really knowing why, I got up and ran back to where Ichigo and the boy were. When I got there, Ichigo had already transformed and the boy, I thought was the same, had apparently transformed too, except he looked like Kishu's ally more than Ichigo's.

"Ichigo… what's going on?" I asked.

Ichigo turned around and gasped. I turned around to see Kishu and the other aliens standing behind me. Ichigo ran in front of me, as if she was protecting me.

"Kishu, what are you doing here!" she asked.

"Just to have a little fun… and to test our theory." He replied.

"Theory?" Ichigo asked.

Just then the mutant lion attacked me. It pushed me away from Ichigo, and I hit a nearby tree. I slumped to the ground, but before I could get up and dodge, the lion attacked me again. It finally held me down with one of its huge paws.

"Kishu stop it!" Ichigo yelled. "Stop it! Chouko's got absolutely nothing to do with this!"

"No Ichigo… she has everything to do with this." Kishu said. "Isn't that right… my little butterfly?"

**Ichigo POV**

"No Ichigo… she has everything to do with this." Kishu said. "Isn't that right… my little butterfly?"

Chouko's body began to glow and she transformed. The mutant lion, who had backed away from Chouko when she transformed, charged toward her. She held her hand out in front of her and yelled, "Chouko Spear!" and a long spear appeared in her hand.

She stood there and when the lion was just about to attack, she cut it with her spear. The lion instantly separated from the predasite and ran off.

"That was quick." I said, walking up to her. "How'd you do that?"

Chouko transformed back to normal and began to fall, but luckily Masaya caught her.

"It's okay, she's just asleep." He reassured me. "I bet it took a lot of energy to destroy that Kimera Anima like that."

I looked around for Kishu, but he had already left. Masaya and I transformed back to normal and turned to see Jake standing there. He saw Chouko and ran toward us.

"Chou?! Chou, what's wrong?!" he asked worried, shaking Chouko's shoulders. He looked up at me. "What'd you do to her?!"

"Nothing, she's just tired." Masaya answered. "You should probably take her home."

Jake glared at Masaya for a minute and then he lifted Chouko up onto his back and walked out of the amusement park.

"Do you think he saw us?" I asked Masaya.

"Maybe, but let's not say anything in case he didn't." he replied.

**Chouko POV**

I woke up and found myself in my bedroom. I sat up and a damp cloth fell from my forehead and landed in my lap.

"What happened? I remember being attacked by that mutant lion… but then my mind goes blank." I wondered aloud.

I walked over to the window and gazed up at the moon. "What's happening to me?"

"You don't realize it, do you?" came a familiar voice behind me.

I spun around to see Kishu standing on the other side of my bed.

"What do you mean?" I asked angrily.

"Who's this?" he asked, picking up a picture frame off my dresser.

I lunged across the bed and snatched the picture away from him.

"Don't EVER touch this!" I yelled at him, tears in my eyes.

"I'm… sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Kishu said. He wiped away my tears. "Please don't cry."

I pushed him away from me and glared at him. "Don't talk to me like you care! You're nothing but a liar and a pervert who doesn't have any feelings at all! You don't care! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Kishu wrapped his arms around me comfortingly. I began beating his chest, still crying, and soon ended up crying into his shirt.

"You're wrong my little butterfly… I do know something." Kishu whispered. "I know what's happening to you. I know what you've become."

I looked up at Kishu and saw that he was smiling at me and I knew that he was telling me the truth. I could tell that he _did_ know something.

"Would you like me to tell you?" he asked.

I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head against his chest. "Yes, please tell me everything."


	4. A Change of Heart

Chouko and I were sweeping up outside together talking about how Ryou could be so cruel sometimes.

"And I got grounded again!" Chouko whined. "And this time he didn't give me a reason why! He just said that I wasn't allowed to leave the café today."

"That sucks. And he's making me stay after work to clean up because I got here late!" I added.

"So, what are you doing this weekend? Got any plans with your boyfriend?" Chouko asked.

"Actually, Ryou wants me to work here this weekend." I said. "But that's okay; Masaya's got kendo practice this weekend too. My mom doesn't mind that I've got a boyfriend, but when my dad found out he went all ballistic!"

Chouko and I laughed, but then I saw her face fall. She looked like something was bothering her.

"Chouko is something wrong?" I asked.

Chouko looked up at you and shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong. I'll just go and tell Ryou that we're done cleaning up out here."

**Chouko POV**

I ran back into the café and walked into the kitchen.

"We finished cleaning up outside!" I told Ryou.

"Good, but you still can't leave the café." He said. Then he noticed my tears. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying!" I said.

"Yes you are, just tell me what's wrong."

"Why do you care? It's not like you're my family or anything!"

"I care because you're my friend's niece and also because I want to help you!" Ryou yelled. "I know how it feels to be going through what you're going through right now—"

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" I screamed. "Kishu was right… there's no way that you could ever understand how I feel! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOSE SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU!"

I ran from the kitchen and out of the café, tears flying from my eyes.

I ran into the foresty part of the park. I tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground. I buried my face in my hands and cried while it started to rain.

**Kishu POV**

"Where are you going Kishu?" Taruto asked as I started to leave.

"None of your business brat." I replied.

"Oh I see, you're going to see your girlfriend!"

I conked him on the head and turned to leave, but Pai was blocking me.

"Move it Pai." I said.

"Don't do anything stupid." Pai said.

"I never do anything stupid!" I said walking past him. "That would be the little midget over there that does stupid things."

I quickly teleported away to dodge Taruto as he charged toward me.

I teleported to the park and hid in the trees. I looked for Chouko, but she wasn't there.

Then I saw Chouko running from the café and into the foresty part of the park. I wondered what was wrong and followed her.

**Chouko POV**

"Hey bitch!" I heard a girl's voice say.

I sat up and looked around, but nobody was there.

"You're even stupider than you look." The girl said.

I looked up and saw a girl with long silvery-blue hair sitting up in a tree with a long tail hanging behind her.

She jumped down from the branch and landed in front of me. She pulled out a sword and held it up to my neck.

"Name's Kira… and my father sees you as a problem." She said, pressing the sword closer to my neck. "So he asked me to kill you."

Kira sat up and looked around. "Dammit! Well, I'll see you later bitch."

Then she teleported away. I stood up and Kishu appeared in front of me.

"Chouko, what's wrong?" he asked.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed mt lips against his, tears streaming down my face. I broke the kiss and cried into Kishu's shirt.

"Take me with you!" I cried. "Please take me with you!"

**Ichigo POV**

"I wonder why Chouko was so upset earlier." I wondered aloud.

"She had no right to say that to me! I've lost both my mother and my father!" Ryou yelled from the kitchen.

I stopped and listened to what he and Keiichiro were saying.

"Ryou, listen—" Keiichiro began.

"Keiichiro, tell me the real reason why your niece had to come and live with you." Ryou demanded.

"She's an orphan." Keiichiro answered. "Just like you. Her parents died a couple months ago in a car crash, and her older brother was with them. Her parents died instantly, but her brother was in a coma for two weeks before he died. I'm the only family she's got left."

"Oh… I didn't know." Ryou said softly.  
Ryou stormed out of the kitchen and walked right past me.

"Ryou where are you going?!" Keiichiro asked walking out after him.

"Going to find Chouko." He replied, walking out of the café, not looking back.

Keiichiro turned around and saw me standing there.

"Keiichiro… why didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"Because I didn't want you to treat her differently than you do now." Keiichiro replied. "Look, when you first met Chouko, you treated her like a new friend, right? You felt happy about making a new friend. You didn't feel _sorry_ for her."

"You shouldn't have judged us like that!" I yelled at him. "Why'd you do that? Is it because you can't trust us?"

"It's not that," Keiichiro said. "It's just… I wanted her to be happy again."

**FF Chouko POV**

I was waiting outside for Kishu and the other two (already transformed). It was really late at night and that meant that all the Mew Mews would be sleeping.

I felt something wrap around your neck and felt a ribbon with a bell on it. I turned to see Kishu smiling at me.

"What's this for?" I asked him.

"So I don't lose you." Kishu said, flicking the bell. "I can't have you go wandering off alone without some way of finding you again."

"Arigato Kishu," I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "And don't worry… I'll never try to run away."

"Kishu, everything's ready." Pai said walking outside.

Kishu nodded and Pai teleported away.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kishu asked me.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." I replied.

I took his hand and he teleported to the top of Tokyo Tower. I summoned my Chouko Spear, which now had a black crystal at the end of it, and pointed it toward the sky.

A bolt of lightning emitted from the crystal in my spear and hit the sky. Storm clouds began to form and it started raining hard.

"Now all we have to do is wait." Kishu said.

**Ryou POV**

"Ryou… you're soaked!" Keiichiro exclaimed when I entered the café.

"Yeah, it's storming outside. The storm just came out of nowhere." I replied.

"Did you find her?"

"No, I couldn't find her anywhere. It's like she just vanished." I replied. "I'm sorry Keiichiro…"

"It's not your fault Ryou, I'm sure she's alright."

Just then, the alarm started going off and we rushed over to the computer.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Kimera Animas are appearing all over the city." Keiichiro replied. "We need to get the girls."

I pressed a button on the computer and connected to Masha's communication system.

"Ichigo, Ichigo wake up!" I yelled.

"WHOA! Uh, what is it Shirogane? It's the middle of the night." Ichigo groaned.

"Listen, Kimera Animas are appearing all over the city! You and the others need to hurry and destroy them!"

"Got it!" everyone said.

"Shirogane?" Ichigo asked.

"What is it Ichigo?"

"Is Chouko alright?"

"I don't know Ichigo, but don't worry, I'm sure she's fine." I reassured her.

**Chouko POV**

"Man, this is boring." Taruto whined.

"You didn't have to stay with us you know." I said. "You're the one who chose to stay behind."

"I didn't think it'd be this boring."

"Shut up brat!" Kishu said, punching Taruto on the head. "It's your own fault that you stayed behind."

"Well, since nothing interesting is going on here, I'll just go help the Kimera Animas." Taruto said teleporting away.

"How do you live with such a pain in the ass?" I asked Kishu.

"You get used to it after a while." Kishu replied.

"You know Kishu, the other day, when you found me in the park… a girl who had silvery-blue hair, big pointy ears, and a long blue-ish tail said that her father sees me as a problem and he asked her to kill me. I think she said her name was Kira."

"Oh man! Not her!" Kishu groaned.

"You know her?"

"Know her? Of course I know her!" Kishu replied. "She's been yelling at me for ages for not destroying the Mew Mews quickly. She said that she could do better, but she's too much of a daddy's-girl to help us out! All she does is stay by her father's side all day, not helping out one bit! She's a much bigger pain in the ass than Taruto is, and that's saying something."

I giggled at his joke, and he started laughing with me.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" came a familiar voice behind us. "A traitor and a defective Mew Mew… how charming,"

"Shut up Kira!" Kishu yelled. "We're here on Deep Blue's orders, and you should know that!"

"Oh I do, but it's not so much that father can't trust you… it's that troublesome butterfly he's more concerned about." Kira said. "So he asked me to keep an eye on you two, in case you screw up again Kishu."

**Kishu POV**

"So he asked me to keep an eye on you two, in case you screw up again Kishu." Kira said.

"What do you mean he's more worried about Chouko?" I asked. "She's not going to turn on us, we can trust her."

"It's not a matter of trust, Kishu, it's about her powers." Kira replied. "From the look on your face, I can tell that you don't have a clue of what I just said. Well, this certainly is interesting, you admit you have feelings for her, but you don't even know what she's capable of."

She laughed, and then looked at me and smiled.

"Since I'm here, why don't we have some fun?" she summoned her bow and an arrow and aimed at Chouko. "I hope you're good at flying… butterfly."

**Ichigo POV**

"We've taken care of all the Kimera Animas on this side of town." I told Ryou.

"Same here." Came Zakuro's voice.

"Girls, we just got a strong signal from Tokyo Tower, it was only for a second, but it was strong." Ryou said. "Go figure out what it is!"

"Can't we take a break?" Mint whined.

"Sure, if you don't mind the entire world coming to an end, then yeah, you can take a break." Ryou said sarcastically.

"So the aliens are causing trouble at Tokyo Tower? Don't worry, Ryou, we'll take care of it." I said.

"Ichigo, there's one more thing… Chouko's there too."

**End Part 4**


	5. The Past I Tried To Forget

Kira shot a glowing arrow at me and I tried to dodge it, but couldn't. It was a direct hit; it knocked me back against the tower.

"Kira, stop it! What are you doing?" Kishu yelled.

"Having some fun, besides, father wants her dead anyway." Kira said, readying another arrow. "Say goodnight… butterfly."

I braced yourself for the impact, but nothing came. I looked and saw that Kishu had blocked Kira's attack with his dragon swords.

"Don't interfere Kishu, unless you want to die too." Kira warned.

"Go ahead and kill me… it won't matter if I die. But I won't let you kill Chouko!" Kishu yelled.

"Kishu, don't worry about me." I cried. "Nobody'll miss me if I died. Nobody'd care… and why would they… with all the things I've done…"

Just then, Ichigo and the others appeared on the other side of the Tokyo Tower.

"Kishu, what are you doing with Chouko?!" Ichigo yelled.

"It's about time you girls got here, now I can really have some fun." Kira said.

"Who's that?" Mint asked.

"Your worst nightmare…" Kira replied.

While Kira started attacking the other Mew Mews, Kishu bent down and helped me sit up.

"Chouko, what'd you mean earlier?" he asked. "What'd you mean all the things you've done before?"

I looked up at Kishu with understanding eyes. I knew that I could trust him… but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him my secret. "Let's just say that I wasn't a perfect little angel a few years ago." I said.

The Mew Mews screamed and I could see that if somebody didn't stop Kira, they'd die. I struggled to my feet and walked toward Kira.

"Kira, leave them alone." I said.

I summoned your Chouko Spear.

"Stop attacking others!" I said. "I'm the one you want, come fight me."

"Chouko, what are you doing?" Lettuce yelled.

"Are you insane?" Mint asked.

"I'm the one your father told you to kill, not them! Come and get me you coward!" I yelled.

I turned and ran to the other side of the Tower. Kira followed me and shot another arrow at me. I just barely dodged her attack, and almost fell off the edge of the tower.

"It's the end of the line butterfly." Kira said.

"Why do you call me that? I'm not a butterfly! I don't even know exactly what I am." I asked.

"Oh, I see… nobody's told you." Kira laughed. "Well, too bad. Say goodnight… butterfly."

She shot an arrow at me and it hit me square in the chest. I felt myself fall backwards before losing consciousness.

**FF Ryou POV**

"What'cha doing Keiichiro?" I asked, walking into the computer room.

"I've been thinking, Ichigo said that when Chouko transformed, it didn't look as if she had any animal DNA in her." He replied. "I remembered reading about something like that in our research, so I thought that if I could find that part of our research, then we could figure out what animal Chouko has—Ah, here it is!"

I walked over and looked over his shoulder. I saw a picture of a butterfly that had purple wings with a silver tinge. The purple color of the wings was the same color of Chouko's hair.

"Here it is, you're father had wrote this in his research log before he died: 'This butterfly is called, _Mew Aqua Chou_, because of the silver tinge on its wings. It lived in the same time as the creatures known as Kimera. There was an old legend that something called Mew Aqua was what the butterfly needed in order to survive. It also said that the butterfly had the ability to take on a human form, but nobody knew it was a butterfly because it can hide its wings and antenna. The only notable feature that the butterfly cannot control is the color of its hair will be the same shade of purple as its wings."

"What happened to it?" I asked.

"It doesn't say." He replied. "It cuts off right there… the rest of it's missing."

"That can't really be it, can it?" I asked.

"It's the only conclusion that fits everything." Keiichiro said. "But what I don't understand is if the butterfly needs Mew Aqua to survive… where does it find it?"

"Oh no… I think I know."

**The Next DayChouko POV**

"Chouko, are you okay?"

"Huh… Kishu? Am I dead?" I asked, slowly opening my eyes.

"What? Why would you be dead?" Kishu asked.

"Didn't I fall off Tokyo Tower?"

"You did, but I saved you." Kishu replied.

"Why? Why'd you save me? I—"

"Kishu, Deep Blue wants to talk to us." Pai said, banging on the door.

"Coming; I got to go, but I'll be right back." Kishu said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Get some more rest."

He walked out of the room, leaving me alone. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

**Dream**

I was standing on the top of Tokyo Tower holding my spear.

"_Who am I?"_ I asked myself. _"What am I?"_

"You're the one who can save the world." A voice said.

There was a bright light and my mother appeared in front of me. The only thing that was different was that she had beautiful butterfly wings.

"Mother?" I asked.

"I know this may be hard for you to understand, but this is my true form." She said. "My real name is Mew Aqua Chou."

"Mew… Aqua?"

"And you're a Mew Aqua butterfly, just like me." She added.

"What's that mean?"

"Look inside your heart and you'll find the answer to everything."

**End Dream**

I woke up to see Kishu walking back into the room.

"What'd he say?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." He replied. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks again for saving me."

I sat up, and noticed that my shirt was off and there were bandages on my chest.

"Where's my shirt?" I asked Kishu angrily.

"What shirt?" he asked innocently.

"Nice try, jack ass, I know you've got my shirt somewhere."

"Fine, fine, it's over on the dresser." He said.

I reached over and snatched up my shirt and quickly put it on.

"There was no other way to reach the wound on your chest." Kishu explained.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" I said.

"Um…. yeah." He replied.

"Well, lucky for you… I do." I said. "But next time, don't do that."

"Okay… well, do you want to go back?"

"What?"

"Do you want to go back home?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you look like something's bothering you." He said.

"Oh, no… it's not that. I just… I was just thinking about something." I said, then I got an idea. "Actually… maybe I should go home, just for a bit. You wouldn't mind, would you?"

"Nope." He replied.

**Back on Earth**

I walked back into the café and everybody rushed over to me.

"Where were you?!" Ichigo yelled.

"We were so worried about you!!" Lettuce added.

"I had to actually work when you were gone!" Mint added.

"I missed you onee-chan!" Pudding wailed.

"Guys, I'm fine! Really… don't worry about me. I'm sorry for making you worry, but I'm really alright." I said.

Ryou walked out of the kitchen and over to I.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you." I said sympathetically. "Please forgive me."

Ryou raised his hand and I braced myself for the worst. But instead of feeling a slap on the face, I felt him petting my head. I looked up at him curiously.

"It's alright. I'm not mad, and I forgive you." He said. "Just don't go running off again."

I smiled and wrapped my arms around Ryou. I buried my face in his shirt to hide my tears, but it was too much; I started crying.

"Chouko…" he said.

"Please… let me stay like this for a little longer." I whispered.

**That NightFlashback**

I were up in my room, sitting at the window. I was waiting for my brother, who was coming home from spending the summer with his friends.

Then, a black van pulled up in front of my house and my maid walked outside. A man stepped out and said something to her and she walked back inside. I realized what had happened.

"Mistress…" the maid said, walking into the room. "I have some bad news…"

"No! Shut up!" I yelled, tears forming in my eyes.

"But Mistress—"

"NO!!!" I screamed.

**FF **

"Chouko, it's time to go." The maid said, walking into my room.

I got up and followed her outside. I got in the car with her and it drove us to the cemetery. It pulled up in front of my parents graves and I got out.

The maid placed some flowers on the graves, and I stood there watching her.

Then I got back in the car and went to the hospital. I walked up to my brother's room and sat beside his bed.

"Hey onii-chan, how've been? Me? I've been great! Yesterday I won my singing competition. They said I was the best singer there." I said to my brother. "Isn't that great?"

My brother didn't reply. He was still asleep.

"But… to tell you the truth, I really miss you." I said sadly. "It's just not the same without you."

I held my brother's hand in mine and tears rolled down my face and landed on top of his.

"I'm trying to be strong… but I just can't do it anymore! I need you back onii-chan! Come back! Please wake up!"

I wrapped my arms around my brother, crying. My maid rushed over and tried to pull me off.

"Come on Chouko, that's not helping!"

"No! Leave me alone!" I screamed. "Don't take me away from him!"

**End Flashback**

I snapped out of it and realized that I had been crying.

"It's been a while since I did that…" I said to myself.

I laid back and closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.

**Dream**

I'm standing in some kind of dark abyss. The only thing I could see was a cherry blossom tree. I stood next to the cherry blossom tree and began hearing my mother's voice.

"It's nice to see you again, Chouko." She said, appearing behind me.

"Mother, were you the butterfly that was there when I first transformed?" I asked.

"Yes, I was watching over you, controlling your powers for you until the time was right."

"Thank you mother…" I said.

"Chouko, listen to me." She said urgently. "You've been through so much, having to live with your uncle in Japan, learning about your powers… but you must know that there is a much greater evil that is coming. You must be careful to not be fooled ­or tricked; the great evil will try to use you to hurt those that are close to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't have much time, but there's one more thing I need to tell you." She said. "Don't think that if you died that nobody'd miss you… because to the world you may be one person, but to one person, you might be the world."

**End Dream**

"Chouko! Chouko!" a voice said as someone shook my shoulder

I sat up and bumped heads with Ryou.

"Ryou?!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing in my room?!"

"You were yelling in your sleep so I came to wake you up." He said, rubbing his head. "It looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare. Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." I said.

Suddenly, Ryou leaned in, causing me to blush. His lips were an inch from mine…

"Hey!" I yelled, pushing Ryou off the bed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Just like we thought," Ryou said smiling.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

He held up a mirror and I screamed. I had two antennas sticking out of my head.

I reached up and felt them. I could tell they were real and screamed again.

"Wh—what'd you do to me?!" I asked.

"Nothing, now get up and get dressed." Ryou said. "Jake's here and he wants to see you."

He walked out of my room and I quickly got dressed. I ran downstairs and saw Jake standing there with a suitcase next to him.

"Jake, are you leaving?" I asked.

"Yeah, my mom called and said that I needed to get home." He replied.

"Did something happen to Jessica?" I asked worried.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's nothing she can't handle." He reassured me, wrapping his arms around me.

I didn't know why, but I started to cry.

"What wrong Chou?" Jake asked.

"Nothing…" I said wiping away my tears. "I just remembered the part of my past that I tried to forget."

**End Part 5**


	6. A Loving Sacrifice

"Well, I guess this is good-bye." I said to Jake.

"Yeah, but I'll come back to visit." He promised.

I gave him a hug and whispered in his ear, "I'll miss you Jake, don't forget me."

Then, I ran off into the woods. I didn't know why, but I suddenly began to feel like something was calling me. I ran where my heart was telling me to go.

**FF **

I reached a place of town that looked like a battlefield. I saw the Mew Mews fighting against some kind of Kimera Anima. I looked up at the weird looking building floating above them. It seemed like it was calling me.

"Chouko, what are you doing here?!" Lettuce asked.

"It's… calling me." I said, ignoring her.

I started walking toward the building, but Ryou held me back.

"What do you think you're doing?! It's not safe up there! Ichigo's already gone up there to take care of it!" Ryou said. "It's too dangerous for you! Just let Ichigo handle it."

I struggled to get free, "Let me go! I have to go! It's calling me!" I screamed, but Ryou wouldn't let go.

"Chouko, calm down; what do you think you can accomplish by going up there?" he asked.

"Let me go! It's calling me… I have to go!" I cried. "Why won't you let me go?!"

"Because I care about you!" he yelled.

I immediately stopped struggling and looked up at him.

"Look, you're my friend's family, and he cares about you very much. I can't let you put yourself in danger!" he said. "I'm trying to protect you!"

Without warning, tears began to fall down my face. When my tears hit the ground, my body started glowing. I was lifted off the ground and surrounded by a bright light. When it died down, I was lowered and landed gracefully on my feet.

"That was weird." I said.

I looked up and saw that Ryou was staring at me, shocked.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Your wings," he said.

"My wings? What are you talking about? I don't have wings, do I?" I asked.

He nodded and I looked behind me and saw two big wings that were the same color as my hair.

"Holy freakin' shit! Where'd those come from?" I exclaimed.

"I don't know, but you've never had them before." Ryou said.

Suddenly, I heard Ichigo scream. I looked around, but she wasn't there. Then I remembered that she was up in the strange building, and I knew that she needed help.

I jumped up and began to fly toward the building, but Ryou grabbed my foot.

"Let go of me Ryou!" I yelled.

"I promised your uncle I wouldn't let you put yourself in danger." He yelled.

I flew down and slapped him hard across the face. "Open your eyes!" I yelled at him. "It's my choice to put myself in danger or not! Ichigo's in trouble up there and I'm the only one that can help her! I don't know how, but I just get the feeling that I'm supposed to go up there and help her. I'm fourteen years old and I can take care of myself! Besides, my uncle doesn't really care about me, and neither do you!"

I pushed him down and flew up to the building. I entered the building, which was like a huge dome, and saw an alien with long black hair attacking Ichigo. Ichigo hit the wall and fell to the ground.

"Ichigo!" I yelled.

The other alien turned to me and laughed. "I see you've finally arrived… Mew Aqua Chou." He said.

"Mew… Aqua?" Ichigo asked. "Chouko, what's going on here?"

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I asked, ignoring Ichigo's question.

"I see that you resemble your mother extremely well." Deep Blue I need to use his name for MY SAKE! said. "I guess it's true about your kind, you can't resist the urge to save someone's life, even if it means sacrificing your own. Not that it matters… you'll soon be dead and I'll have what I want."

"How do you know about my mother?" I asked.

"How did I know her? I killed her! I sent Kishu out to kill her and her family so that I could finally have what I wanted." He laughed.

"You're lying!" I screamed, trying to hold back your tears. "Kishu wouldn't have done that!"

I ran toward him and raised my spear, ready to attack, when Kishu appeared between me and him. I dropped your spear and fell to the ground, crying.

"Chouko, what's wrong?" Kishu asked, bending down next to me. "What happened?"

"Get away from me!" I said, standing up and backing away from him.

"I'll just let you two settle things out…" Deep Blue said. "… while I destroy this Mew Mew."

"Chouko, what's going on?" Kishu asked.

I didn't answer him, I watched as Deep Blue stepped toward Ichigo and prepared to kill her. As he raised his sword, I quickly ran toward Ichigo. I instantly felt his sword through my chest and I felt a trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth.

"CHOUKO!!" Kishu and Ichigo screamed.

"Kishu, I had a lot of fun, spending time with you… you helped me to smile once again… I just want you to know that I…" I lost consciousness.

**Kishu POV**

Deep Blue thrust Chouko off of his sword and I caught her, but knew it was too late. Then, Chouko's body started glowing. The light became an arrow that pierced Deep Blue's heart, releasing the Mew Aqua that was inside.

"Chouko! Chouko, wake up!" I said, shaking her shoulder, but she didn't move.

The other Mew Mews appeared and gasped.

"Chouko!" Lettuce gasped.

"Chouko onee-chan?" Pudding began, but Zakuro held her back and she started to cry.

"Why… why did this have to happen?" Lettuce asked.

"Because it was meant to happen." A voice said.

There was a bright light, and when it died down, I saw a woman who looked exactly like Chouko, except older, and she had the same wings that Chouko had.

"Who are you? And what do you mean, it was meant to happen?" I asked.

"My name is Mew Aqua Chou, I'm Chouko's mother." She said. "I knew all too well that this would happen, that my daughter would defeat the great evil that threatened to destroy the world. I had my doubts at first, but then I realized, after I died, Chouko grew up. She learned to act on her own, without taking orders from anyone else. Thank you for helping her along the way."

There was another bright light and Chouko appeared beside her mother. They looked so much alike, they could almost be twins.

"Everyone… I'm sorry." She said. "I've caused you nothing but trouble, and you've done so many wonderful things for me. I was wondering if you could do me one last favor, a last request? Could you burry me underneath the cherry blossom tree in the park? A cherry blossom was my brother's favorite tree when he was alive, and mine as well. And Kishu…"

She bent down and wrapped her arms around me. "I wanted you to know that I love you so much, even though you killed my parents, because even if I'd known that back then… you still would've stolen my heart." And she placed her lips against mine for a second before standing up beside her mother again.

"Please apologize to Ryou and Uncle Keiichiro for me." She said. "I'll miss you guys… I guess this is good-bye."

And she and her mother took each other's hands and faded away.

I picked up Chouko in my arms and teleported back down to earth along with the Mew Mews. Ryou came running up to us as we appeared.

"Everyone… Chouko!" he exclaimed, rushing over to me. "Why'd this have to happen? I was trying to protect her… it's my entire fault."

"No…" I said. "… it's not your fault. She knew this would happen… she sacrificed herself to save Ichigo. But I can't figure out why."

Just then, Chouko's body began to glow. A sphere of light emerged from Chouko's chest and her body stopped glowing. I took the sphere and realized that it was Mew Aqua.

"So this is what Deep Blue was after… he wanted the Mew Aqua that was inside Chouko." I said.

"I think I understand why she did that." Ichigo said, walking over to me. "It's because she was born with her powers, but her mother had control over them until she died, and I didn't have any choice in the matter if I wanted to become a Mew Mew or not. She felt like since she had already lost everything she had, that she didn't need to worry about living on."

"I guess that makes sense." I said.

"When you've fought all your fights, and loved the ones you love, then you can ­leave the world with no regrets, and finally rest in peace." Ichigo said.

**THE END**

…**or is it?**


End file.
